Comments from Scotland on politics, technology & all related matters (ie everything)/"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary."Henry Louis Mencken....WARNING - THE LIBERAL DEMOCRATS HAVE DECIDED THAT THIS BLOG IS LIKELY TO BE MISTAKEN FOR AN OFFICIAL PARTY SITE (no really, unanimous decision) I PROMISE IT ISN'T SO ENTER FREELY & OF YOUR OWN WILL

The forecast came as millions of households face rises of up to £140 in electricity and gas bills within weeks.The current average dual fuel bill stands at £1,420. But, with the way prices are continuing to soar, this figure is set to double by 2020.---------------------------------------------------------The Commonwealth is set to overtake the Eurozone to become the largest GDP area in the world. Furthermore, the Commonwealth is predicted to have a growth rate of 7.3% between 2013 and 2017, three times faster than the Eurozone. The Commonwealth has 20% of global trade and just over 30% of the world’s population.

Five of the Commonwealth nations – Singapore, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, are ranked in the top ten countries worldwide for doing business (2010) and are classified in the Very High Human Development Group.
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The crucial role of energy in growth: On a global scale, economic growth has always been highly correlated with higher energy consumption. Between 1980 and 2008, to produce one additional unit of GDP, 0.55 additional units of primary (raw) energy inputs were required[i]. When looking at energy that can be directly applied to societies, correlations are even stronger: during the same period, for one unit of GDP, electricity use grew by 0.95 units globally.[ii]

GDP and primary energy use (1980=100)

This strong connection between economic growth and energy consumption is often overlooked. It is based on the key paradigm of the industrial age: a significant portion of the productivity gains of the 19th and 20th century were achieved as greater mechanical energy use released human labour capacity. In industrial societies, one unit of human labour, measured in food intake, was often replaced by 100-1000 units of mechanical energy, mostly delivered from fossil fuels